In this episode, we sit down with WPI’s Athletic Director to explore what it really means to be a student-athlete at one of the nation’s top STEM universities. With college sports making headlines nationwide, we take a closer look at the Division III experience at WPI — where academics come first, teamwork is essential, and the lessons learned on the field connect directly to WPI’s project-based learning approach.
We talk about balance, motivation, competition, community, and why being part of a team at WPI is about much more than winning games. It’s about collaboration, leadership, and preparing students for life after graduation.
In this episode, we sit down with WPI’s Athletic Director to explore what it really means to be a student-athlete at one of the nation’s top STEM universities. With college sports making headlines nationwide, we take a closer look at the Division III experience at WPI — where academics come first, teamwork is essential, and the lessons learned on the field connect directly to WPI’s project-based learning approach.
We talk about balance, motivation, competition, community, and why being part of a team at WPI is about much more than winning games. It’s about collaboration, leadership, and preparing students for life after graduation.

Researchers across departments at WPI are studying how wildfires start, spread, and impact communities. In this episode of The WPI Podcast, James Urban, assistant professor in the Department of Fire Protection Engineering, and Albert Simeoni, professor and head of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering, discuss their research on fire behavior and how they’re working to share the knowledge generated from this research to protect people and property.
This is the first of two episodes focused on wildfire-related research at WPI. In the next episode on the topic, researchers in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering will talk about their work to understand the impacts of wildfire smoke on indoor environments, with a focus on children’s sleep health and the absorption of smoke by building materials.
Related links:
Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center
National Fire Protection Association: Firewise USA (wildfire risk reduction program)